Military service poll

[Splinty]

Originally posted by Popfreak:

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Beeper:

I think I'm one of the few guys in here who actually used WWII equipment (sort of) in the early 90's.

Plaeeeeeeese. Served aboard a WWII Battleship that was recommissioned 4 times and finally went down for the count in 1991. Now she's a great museum </font>

[Beeper]

Originally posted by Popfreak:

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Beeper:

I think I'm one of the few guys in here who actually used WWII equipment (sort of) in the early 90's.

Plaeeeeeeese. Served aboard a WWII Battleship that was recommissioned 4 times and finally went down for the count in 1991. Now she's a great museum </font>

[Popfreak]

Originally posted by Beeper:

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Popfreak:

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Beeper:

I think I'm one of the few guys in here who actually used WWII equipment (sort of) in the early 90's.

Plaeeeeeeese. Served aboard a WWII Battleship that was recommissioned 4 times and finally went down for the count in 1991. Now she's a great museum </font>

[Battlefront.com]

Popfreak is correct. From the book "Little Known Covert Close Calls of the Cold War":

"The New Jersey slipped into Leningrad harbor one cloudy, non-moonlight Tuesday night in January on a super secret, high risk recon mission. The massive battleship had been specially prepared for this mission by being disguised as a luxury cruise ship. It was not a very convincing disguise up close, but knowing most Soviet sailors were drunk all the time it was figured that proper identification was unlikely. By 1130 the ship was nearly in position without incident. Just then a Soviet coastal patrol craft came to within 500m of the starboard side. The Captain passed the word along for everyone to remain quiet in hopes the Soviets wouldn't notice the 57,271 ton vessel. Under normal circumstances this was a sensible thing to do, however in this case no-one thought about how suspicious a silent cruiseship would appear. Indeed, the semi-alert Soviet skipper was curious about the lack of joyful passenger sounds and began to doubt what his blurred double vision had taken for a cruise ship. As if on cue the high pitched voice of Midshipman Hollis yelling "BINGO!", followed by loud noises of joy and disappointment from other crew members, could be heard by anybody within 1000m of the NJ. For as good as the planning was, the NATO commanders who thought up this mission were unaware that Tuesday night was Bingo night on the New Jersey. Sailors are superstitious about changing routines, so the game continued on despite the seriousness of their mission. Ironically, it was this serious mistake in military planning that wound up saving the New Jersey from detection, for the Soviet skipper heard the commotion and returned to port for a nightcap, satisfied that there was nothing out of the ordinary at sea that night."

Steve

[ October 27, 2005, 07:34 PM: Message edited by: Battlefront.com ]

[Popfreak]

Originally posted by Battlefront.com:

Popfreak is correct. From the book "Little Known Covert Close Calls of the Cold War":

"The New Jersey slipping into Leningrad harbor one cloudy, non-moonlight Tuesday night in January on a super secret, high risk recon mission. The massive battleship had been specially prepared for this mission by being disguised as a luxury cruise ship. It was not a very convincing disguise up close, but knowing most Soviet sailors were drunk all the time it was figured that proper identification was unlikely. By 1130 the ship was nearly in position without incident. Just then a Soviet coastal patrol craft came to within 500m of the starboard side. The Captain passed the word along for everyone to remain quiet in hopes the Soviets wouldn't be notice the 57271 ton vessel. Under normal circumstances this was a sensible thing to do, however in this case no-one thought about how suspicious a silent cruiseship would appear. Indeed, the semi-alert Soviet skipper was curious about the lack of joyful passenger sounds and began to doubt what his blurred double vision had taken for a cruise ship. As if on cue the high pitched voice of Midshipman Hollis yelling "BINGO!", along with a lot of noise of joy and disappointment from other crew members, could be heard by anybody within 1000m of the NJ. For as good as the planning was, the NATO commanders who thought up this mission were unaware that Tuesday night was Bingo night on the New Jersey. Sailors are superstitious about changing routines, so the game continued on despite the seriousness of their mission. Ironically, it was this serious mistake in military planning that wound up saving the New Jersey from detection, for the Soviet skipper heard the commotion and returned to port for a nightcap, satisfied that there was nothing out of the ordinary at sea that night."

Steve

Good story, except Bingo night was Monday!!!!!

[Bigduke6]

Exerpt from the Pavel Stakhanov potboiler: Dagger and Shield in the Shadows - Secret Missions of the KGB Revealed (Admiralteystvo Publishing, Moscow, 2002)

"...As to the effectiveness of U.S. spy reconnaissance techniques during the perstroika period, and of the Committee of State Security in combating them, there is famous (within KGB ranks) case number 4137, handled by the Leningrad Oblast' maritime security divsion.

The clever Capitalists had disguised a North Carolina-class battleship and sent it on a spy mission against the highly-sensitive Leningrad port installations, including the closed military island Kronstadt. Colonel Viktor Bubkin was the duty officer that night.

'A call came in from a militia station on Vasilievsky island - a Capitalist cruise ship en route to the civilian wharves was behaving strangely. In the first place its lights were off in gross violation of maritime standards and Soviet regulations for internal waters navigation, and in the second place the vessel was silent.

The only scheduled cruise ship expected to be in the vicinity at the time had been the S.S. Mari Mekko carrying a load of Finnish tourists at the end of week's sampling the cultural delights of Russia's northern capital - and as an experienced operative I knew Finns required at least half the way to Helsinki to drink themselves into a stupor.

I immediately ordered an interception by naval elements from Maritime Border Post number 14, but unfortunately deployment was impossible due to a petrol shortage.

The commander of the detachment however informed me he was observing the mysterious cruise vessel by binocular, and was confounded by the crew's behavior: Early morning group exercises shouted in cadence, followed by group runs around the superstructure, followed by prayers, followed by heavy breakfasts of pancakes, sausage, fried eggs, hash browns, weak coffee, and grits. (The menu detected at long range by the elite Maritime Canine Patrol Team 3; both Alsatians were ill for a week.)

Immediate action was called for. I simultaneously contacted Lenigrand regional Customs, Leningrad State University named for Lomonosov, "The Skull" - a racketeer with business interests concentrated in Lenigrad port, and my uncle Vanya, who is always with his buddies found fishing in front of the Hermitage, either from the shore through ice as the season indicates.

The university boys proved ready to defend the Motherland, and proposed a cunning plan to divert the Americans by placement of female students in fur coats, short skirts, and high-heel boots along the shore, to the flank of the battleship's path. This clearly inspired operation proved ineffective due to the effects of calesthenics, Hollywood movies, overly-hot showers, and heavy food on the American crew.

Three customs cutters actually managed to intercept the battleship, and threatened to confiscate it for failure to fill out proper declarations when entering Soviet waters. Unfortunately customs procedures required our men to receive a sample of the U.S. currency before placing the battleship under arrest. After receiving 92 thousand U.S. cash dollars in small bills the customs team returned to headquarters and took no further part in the operation.

"The Skull" was contacted by mobile phone and he promised to break the battleship's legs and threaten its relatives, if it horned in on his territory, but otherwise he was willing to live and let live. It was thought unwise to press him on the point.

It was thus left to Uncle Vanya to defend the Motherland. Rowing to the battleship with his close associates "Fat" Vova and "Skinny" Grisha, the three approached the warship, presented vodka bottles, and demanded the strongest of the Americans prove they were real men. Somewhat surprisingly two senior petty officers and a Marine corporal from Maine took up the challenge. The Americans of course had no chance against the trained throats of the noble Russian trio, and passed out before even the first crate was emptied.

The battleship proceeded onwards to points unknown, but Soviet honor and the superiority of Russian manhood had once again been successfully defended.'"

[Beeper]

Originally posted by mazex:

Ravlunda? Kabusa? Revinge?

[Sixxkiller]

Originally posted by Beeper:

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by mazex:

Ravlunda? Kabusa? Revinge? </font>

[mazex]

Originally posted by Beeper:

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by mazex:

Ravlunda? Kabusa? Revinge? </font>

[offtaskagain]

USMC Jul'03 to present. By training i'm a telephone systems/computer/any electronics that isnt a radio or radar repairman. However the powers that be have decided i'm now a SMART-T operator. I'll be deploying as an augment with 7th Marines next year for Iraq.

[Beeper]

Originally posted by mazex:

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Beeper:

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by mazex:

Ravlunda? Kabusa? Revinge? </font>

[Battlefront.com]

Funny read Bigduke

Panzerwerfer42, hopefully they also decided to train you to be a SMART-T operator before you leave. BTW, interesting picture in that link of yours. Must be from one of the more rurally based USMC units because it looks like primer is all over that Humvee body

Steve